ene.03.2010

Quartermiler Renny Quow and hurdler Josanne Lucas each collected a second  major  honour for 2009 when the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA) named them, their top awards at its annual presentation ceremony held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain last evening.
The Tobagonian duo had already been named  the T&T Olympic Committee  Sportsman and Sportswoman of the year on Tuesday 29 December.

Quow, 22, set a personal best in the 400m (44.53 seconds) during the semifinal round of the World Championships in Berlin, Germany. It was the second fastest time in 2009 and the second fastest in T&T history. He later earned a bronze medal in the final in 45.02 seconds, establishing himself as the first T&T quartermiler in the 26-year history of the championships to secure a podium finish.
Lucas, 25, became T&T’s first female athlete to medal at a senior global meet when she got bronze in the 400 metres hurdles bronze in 53.20 seconds (a new national record) at the World Championships. It was the third fastest time of the year and the 17th fastest of all time. She ended her season in September with another bronze, at the VTB Bank World Athletic finals in Thessaloniki (Greece), clocking 54.31 seconds.

Middle Distance Runner Jehue Gordon, 17, was named Junior Male Athlete of the Year, adding to his Junior Sportsman of the Year award at the TTOC’s ceremony . When he qualified for the 400m Hurdles finals at the aforementioned World Championships he became the youngest ever finalist of any Men’s sprint event in the championships’ history.
The Queen’s Royal College student upper Sixth student, also the youngest person to ever be ranked in the top ten in the world (8th) in the 400m Hurdles. The award for Junior Woman Athlete of the year was shared between Hileen James and Ashley Smith. Olympic gold medallist Hasely Crawford and Ato Boldon, five time Olympic medallist, were in attendance as well as the Tobago House of Assembly’s Orville London ,the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Gary Hunt and TTOC secretary general Brian Lewis

In his address, Hunt said that Quow and Lucas had continued the proud sporting legacy of the sister island. He also spoke about the Ministry’s vision for the future and revealed that the Ministry was on the verge of starting a “new, exciting and innovative project entitled ‘The Way—Pathways to Sporting Excellence’,” which he described as “a systematic and long term approach to the development of sport in T&T designed to create an environment where athletes, coaches, administrators and sport professionals can acheive their optimum potential.”
 
Lewis in his brief remarks said that the achievements  of  T&T sportsmen and women  during the first decade of the 21st century while laudable of  greater significance and import was that it was done  with honesty and  integrity." At no time did the TTOC have any doubt or concern  about T&T athletes failing  drug tests."